Terror threat level raised by David Cameron: How worried should we be?

David Cameron says there are ‘gaps in the armoury’ that need filling against terrorists (Picture: Getty)

Britain’s spies now judge a terrorist attack on British soil to be ‘highly likely’. So should we be losing sleep at nights about the raised threat level?

It’s not good news from Downing Street, that’s for sure.

‘The scale of this threat is growing,’ David Cameron said ominously at a hastily-arranged press conference at No 10.

He’s talking about the risk from around 500 British-born jihadists who have gone to fight in Syria and now Iraq.

It’s the emergence of Isil which is so concerning.

As the prime minister explained, it’s not like this is a terrorist organisation being sheltered by a sympathetic government, as was the case with Afghanistan’s Taliban providing safe haven for Al-Qaida.

This is worse.

Isil is ‘actually seeking to establish and then violently expand its own terrorist state’. Some might want to ignore this, but not Cameron.

‘The ambition to create an extremist caliphate is a threat to our own security here in the UK.’

Having been trained and armed overseas, some of these foreign fighters could decide to make Britain their next target.

That’s why Cameron will go to the Commons when it returns from its summer break next Monday and ask for more powers.

These ‘gaps in our armoury’ would seek to stop radicalised Brits travelling to the Middle East by stopping their passports – or even restricting their movements.

Cameron may get into trouble with civil liberties campaigners if these new powers are abused, but he’s not in the mood for quibbling.

‘We cannot stand by and allow our openness to be confused with a tolerance of extremism,’ he insisted.

It’s too late to stop the passports of the fighters who have already made it out of Britain, however.

And that’s why officials have decided the threat level now facing Britain needs upgrading from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’.

This decision is made by the Joint Intelligence Analysis Centre, a body which operates independently from ministers.

That means it’s not political. Instead it’s the collective judgement of civil servants from 16 government departments and agencies.

British intelligence chiefs in a rare public appearance, giving evidence to MPs (Picture: AP)

Changing the threat level like this doesn’t necessarily mean there will be big changes to the security measures we’re now used to in airports and elsewhere.

Yes, there are ‘additional and sustainable protective security measures’, and Cameron said we could expect to see a few more armed police on the streets.

But Britain is not suddenly in crisis. The highest threat level, ‘critical’, meaning a terrorist attack is imminent, hasn’t been triggered because there is no direct intelligence suggesting the bombers are on their way.

British people have always showed resolve and perservance in the face of these dangers, Cameron said. He wants that to continue to be the case today.

His advice? ‘Go about your daily lives.’

But be aware that the emergence of an evil terrorist state in the Middle East is threatening all those in Europe – including Britain.

An Islamic State militant fires his weapon in celebration after Islamic State militants took over Tabqa air base, in nearby Raqqa city (Picture: Reuters)

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